# The Next Darwin Award Candidate... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 19, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-darwin-award-candidate/240914 "2004-04-19T22:46:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-darwin-award-candidate/240914/1 "2004-04-19T22:46:00Z")
[http://1010wins.com/topstories/winstopstories\_story\_110065855.html](http://1010wins.com/topstories/winstopstories_story_110065855.html) > [@](#): > > Suffolk County Police say a man set the rug in his Fire Island house on fire and then bet his roommate he could stay in the burning house longer. When the flames spread the roomate ran for help. But Police say 59-year-old Thomas Woods stayed. He was found dead Saturday night in the house in Davis Park. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-darwin-award-candidate/240914/2 "2004-04-19T22:54:46Z")
Two guys living and drinking together on a vacation island?..I guess we know which of the two was the flamer? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-darwin-award-candidate/240914/3 "2004-04-19T23:17:44Z")
Sounds like he was being a bit hot-headed. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-darwin-award-candidate/240914/4 "2004-04-19T23:29:54Z")
Well, he won, didn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-darwin-award-candidate/240914/5 "2004-04-20T00:09:05Z")
I guess the roommate didn’t have the fire in the belly necessary to win. Sounds like he was being a bit of a wet blanket about it. The winner retires with a smokin’ 1-0 record – he’s _en fuego_! ---
**Author:** ![Etherman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@Etherman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Etherman)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-darwin-award-candidate/240914/6 "2004-04-20T00:58:15Z")
I guess its better to burn out than to fade away. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-darwin-award-candidate/240914/7 "2004-04-20T01:32:02Z")
\ if you give a man a fire he’s warm for a day if you set a man on fire, he’s warm for the rest of his life ---
**Author:** ![Call\_me\_Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Call\_me\_Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Call_me_Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-darwin-award-candidate/240914/8 "2004-04-20T02:55:43Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > Well, he won, didn’t he? I think we’ve all won if his stupidity extracted him from the gene pool before he had a chance to pass it on. Hence the Darwin Awards… ---
**Author:** ![START](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@START](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/START)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-darwin-award-candidate/240914/9 "2004-04-20T04:00:32Z")
Maybe I take death to seriously but I thought that Darwin Awards thing was stupid…some boy the other day was trying to get me into that crap…but I don’t find other peoples deaths funny. ---
**Author:** ![Call\_me\_Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Call\_me\_Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Call_me_Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-darwin-award-candidate/240914/10 "2004-04-20T04:09:07Z")
> [@START](#): > > Maybe I take death to seriously but I thought that Darwin Awards thing was stupid…some boy the other day was trying to get me into that crap…but I don’t find other peoples deaths funny. The fact is that some (I say some because some of the Darwin Awards stories might be merely Urban Legengs) of those people died and they went in a way that _could_ be laughed at. So there’s nothing we can do about their being dead, which is sad, but we can at least laugh at the way they went, in which case their death has been ever so slightly redeemed. Basically, what I mean is that their deaths are no more worse because people think they’re humorous. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-darwin-award-candidate/240914/11 "2004-04-20T13:35:58Z")
quote]Police say Woods had challenged his roommate, Rod Bennett, to see who could stay in the burning house longer. Bennett called for help from a neighbor’s house at about 8 p-m Saturday as the fire grew. [/quote] [Johnny Cash] Rugs are a burning thing, and they make a firey ring. Rod and Tom, for a bet, conspire. Tom stayed in the Ring of Fire. {Chorus} Rod ran out from a burning ring of fire. He ran out, out, out, as the flames went higher, But for Tom it burned, that ring of fire. The ring of fire. Beer is powerful thing. Tom’s brain, it was affecting. He must have wanted a funeral pyre. 'Cause he stayed in the ring of fire. {Chorus} [/Johnny Cash] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-darwin-award-candidate/240914/12 "2004-04-20T14:04:43Z")
> [@Call me Frank](#): > > I think we’ve all won if his stupidity extracted him from the gene pool before he had a chance to pass it on. Hence the Darwin Awards… [qupte] Police say 59-year-old Thomas Woods stayed. He was found dead Saturday night in the house in Davis Park. [/quote] He was 59 - he could have spread his seed. ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-darwin-award-candidate/240914/13 "2004-04-20T15:30:54Z")
We delight in believing that people _are_ that dumb, but… Police _say_ he made a bet. Do they have witnesses? Or just this guy Bennett’s word? Woods sets his house on fire on a _bet_? How did he figure it was going to get put out? He lived there year round. Did he own the house? Even if Woods was dumb enough to light the rug on fire, we’re supposed to believe he “apparently fell asleep on a couch and tried to escape after he awoke.”? I call bullshit. Something else happened here. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-darwin-award-candidate/240914/14 "2004-04-20T16:37:48Z")
> [@Myron Van Horowitzski](#): > > We delight in believing that people _are_ that dumb, but… > > Police _say_ he made a bet. Do they have witnesses? Or just this guy Bennett’s word? > > Woods sets his house on fire on a _bet_? How did he figure it was going to get put out? He lived there year round. Did he own the house? > > Even if Woods was dumb enough to light the rug on fire, we’re supposed to believe he “apparently fell asleep on a couch and tried to escape after he awoke.”? > > I call bullshit. Something else happened here. I hadn’t thought about it, but I’m beginning to share your suspicions. The story about the bet must have come from Bennet. Either this a Darwin Award case, or the cops on Fire Island are about as competent as the cops on _The Simpsons._ I hope they gave Woods a really good autopsy.